Days Like This
by Sylenttails
Summary: IT’s one thing to be tossed thru the Veil for something he didn’t do. It was quite another to wake in his animigus form in a world not his own. Harry just knew someone was laughing at him somewhere. Mech/Mech pairings inside.
1. DLT 01: When in Doubt Scream for Help

**Days Like This**

Author: Sylenttails

Rating: FRT

Fandom: Transformers/Harry Potter crossover

Warnings: Crack, Language. Mech/Mech loving.

Pairings: None at this time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or Harry Potter. They belong to their respective creators Hasbro and JK Rowling.

Summer: IT's one thing to be tossed thru the Veil for something he didn't do. It was quite another to wake in his animigus form in a world not his own. Harry just knew someone was laughing at him somewhere.

AN: This idea/challenge is credited to Age of the Geek Baby.

Idea from Age of the Geek Baby: After being sent through the Veil: Harry wakes up in his animigus form, which is a sparkling, in a world different from his, still on Earth, but not his Earth. Beyond disoriented, he unknowingly releases a distress signal from where he is stranded. He is found by Ironhide, Barricade, or an evil organization bent on world domination; he's found by someone. Isn't capable of actual speech, but rather clicks, chirps, and whirs; the Cybertronian equivalent of baby talk.

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_Chapter 1: When in doubt scream for help!_

Harry really wished that his mother was alive to tell him that there would be days like this one. Here he was minding his own business flinging jinxs at random Death Eaters, until his godfather, Bellatrix, and Voldemort himself descended on his hiding spot. The cousins flung curses at the other in hopes of stopping the other from reach the Boy-who-lived. While old Voldy himself managed to overcome Harry's meagre resistance to be within grabbing distance of the boy who lived. Voldemort cackled evilly as he disarmed Harry and grabbed an arm tight enough to leave bruises. Meanwhile Belletrix had diswanded her cousin and used spell rope to tie Sirius up tight.

For his part Harry tried to struggle out of the Dark Lords grasp, to no avail. Keeping a tight grip on the boy's arm, Voldemort dragged Harry to the Death Room only to stop in front of The Veil. Jerking the boy close Voldemort gave a hissing laugh as he pointed at the object.

"Look closely at the instrument of you death boy and fear. The Veil of Death has sat here for untold centuries killing guilty and innocents alike in their quests for power and dominance. With the right incantations and rituals, one can gain the powers of the one slain by the Veil."

Harry struggled even harder at that pronouncement, "Oh hell no! Let me go you bastard!"

"Now why would I do that? Bella! Be a dear and hold onto this foolish whelp."

"With pleasure my Lord!" The Dark Lord's right hand woman spelled more rope into being and tied Harry up. Laughingly avoiding getting bitten by Harry's snapping teeth.

Voldemort stepped back, raised his wand and began to rapidly cast a series of spells needed in the ritual. Glyphs and runes began to glow as a low moaning sound began to come from the Veil. The moaning grew in pitch and sound the longer Voldemort cast. Behind him, a line of Death Eaters kept the Order member away from him. They also kept the Aurors away as he made his wand dance in place casting the spells needed. Behind him Bella and a few other Death Eaters toyed with the boy wizard using muggle means to inflict some pain and anguish. They had been warned beforehand not to use magic by their master while he was incanting the ritual. Ten minutes later Voldemort motioned for a bloody and battered Harry to be tossed in.

"Goodbye pot head!" Bella cackled as she kicked him across the divide. Order member screams reverberated off the walls of the Hall of Death. The sounds of mad laughter and terrified screaming echoed down the halls of the Department of Mysteries. Voldemort sighed in pleasured pain as the Potter boy's power rushed through him and burnt him to a crisp. Blue green power whipped out in a wave of destruction killing those nearest the Veil who echoed Voldemort's signature. Across the country, random objects exploded as their connections to their creator was used as a piggy back to burn the Dark Lord's taint away.

When the lights and the screaming had faded, those left over from the destruction saw a burnt out husk where the Dark Lord once stood. It was summarized later after thorough investigations by Unspeakables; they concluded that Harry Potter's magical strength was so great that no one person could hold it and their own power at the same time. Especially not one who had split their soul six times already. Little did they know that their theory was way off the mark.

A year of mourning took place after the special ceremony held in Harry's honour. His sacrifice at the tender age of fifteen would never to be forgotten.

Chirrup!

Fear, that emotion was all Harry knew as he was kicked through the Veil. Fear and pain had been his entire world since the day Voldemort had blasted his way past his parents in a bid to take Harry's life. Sure there had been varying degrees of fear and pain depending on the situation but in reality it was all he knew. Which is why Harry had begun the beginning parts of animigus training at the end of his third year. Being an animal, no matter what sort, would be heaven for the escape it offered from his life. Hell he would gladly give up being human entirely if it get him away from the pain and suffering that his life had been up until now.

But during the middle stage of the training he had hit a snag. He couldn't figure out what kind of creature he was. He knew that he had to figure that out before he could even begin to transform. All he could get from the first potion induced transformation was that he was strong, with silvery metallic hide, was about taller than his current human height, and just a baby. Further research only gave him a few pieces of information but none that identified what species he could become.

In order to transform at all he had to know what he is, then learn to think like the creature. He also had to keep control of his emotions unless he wanted to inadvertently transform and never turn back into a human.

Not that Harry could remember that tidbit of information right now. He was overwhelmed by his own fear and pain.

Wishing hard for the pain to stop, for rescue... anything.

Suddenly a bright light burst forth, his own magic answering his wish and instigated his animigus form. Wailing cries and fearful chirps began to emit from the human adult sized being that Harry had become, waking the Cybertronian minibot seeker that the Veil was.

Chirrup!

Trailwind woke from stasis sluggish and unresponsive at first. The Decepticon's audio sensors picked up alarms, crackles from newly awaken energy sources and fearful cries of a sparkling in distress. Ancient hard core programming sprang to life, forcing the old Seeker the rest of the way to wakefulness in alarm.

"What the frag is a sparkling doing _HERE_?" He squawked in utter surprise. He didn't think he'd see another Cybertronian ever again. Not after the Fallen and Megatron had taken his wings for the failure of retrieving the Allspark before it was destroyed by a sun. But that was fifteen vorns ago and didn't help now.

He was in no condition to take care of a sparkling that looked barely a quarter vorn old. Add to the fact that his scans showed that the sparkling was damaged and being drained of his spark energy angered the Decepticon like nothing had in a very long time. Long forgotten programming sprang to life as the old seeker hacked into the connection and traced it back to some upstart and really ugly fleshling.

'Interesting, the fleshling seems to have tied itself to other insects of its kind.' Trailwind thought disgusted. "Doesn't matter. It'll pay for harming the sparkling." Hissing in anger, the Seeker broke the fleshling's connection to the sparkling and used it to send searing energy down the link to kill as many of the insects as he could. The mech's sensors monitored the situation as the ones connect to the main insect died, watched as whatever power stores the fleshy had were melted into scrap as it tried uselessly to fight back.

A joor later, Trailwind was satisfied that revenge on behalf of the sparkling was complete. The seeker turned his attention back to chirping sparkling with a sigh.

"He needs a medic." Trailwind thought for a klik, saddened by the thought that he couldn't care for the little one. Sending the sparkling to Cybertron seemed like the best hope. Trailwind powered up his spacebridge technology. The Decepticon cooed at the little one and concentrated damaged circuits in locating suitable coordinates for drop off.

Had the old seeker been any less damaged, he might have noticed the other energy source interfering with his search. He might have noticed that magic power coming off of the sparkling as the energy helped him fulfill Harry's wish for someone to save him. Giving the Decepticon Seeker coordinates meant for an alternate earth and not a long dead planet like Cybertron. Coordinates found, he gave one last toothy smile to the sparkling and spacebridged the little one away to safety. Damaged circuits and lines arced and blew as the Decepticon's last bit of energy stores were used. Trailwind deactivated with the knowledge that the sparkling will be safe.

Chirrup!

[Earth: Nevada – Alternate Dimension]

With a bang the small sparkling appeared on a grassy plain, still wailing in fear and pain. Now that he was no longer in the Veil, Harry hoped he would be found. Yet as a sparkling, being all alone in a strange place was really frightening and so he began to wail and chirp in distress. A small program woke in his processor and turned on a homing beacon built into every sparkling protoform.

[Some miles away]

Ironhide was one really bored mech. Here he was, a fine example of a frontline combat Mech created for battle, doing patrol. A mech would think that a Decepticon would at least show up to make the joors less boring but no.

The frontliner sighed in aggravation. A really boring patrol. It was enough to make him growl and shoot anything. Until his sensors where pinged by an unknown Cybertronian signal. Ironhide nearly whooped for joy as he went to go and investigate the signal. He would be careful of course. Could be a Decepticon trap after all. Still boredom made him curious. And if there was any danger well he was the type of mech to shoot first and let the others question the slagged pieces later.

Ironhide came around a bend in the road and quickly transformed into biped form. Cannons whirled online as he pointed them at the unseen source of the beacon. Not seeing anything in the tall grass but still picking up the signal as well as wailing cries. The Weapons Specialist inched forward until he was on top of the signal.

Staring into his blue optics was the deep green fear filled optics of a damaged sparkling.

TBC


	2. DLT 02: Autobot Cannons is Love

**Days Like This**

An: Please see first chapter for disclaimer and other info.

An2: Thanks everyone for all of your reviews. To those I couldn't write back thank you for your comments as well!

Warning: Cybertronian swearing and Sparkling cuteness

Com talk ::_Blah_::

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Chirrup!

_Chapter 2: Autobot Cannons is Love_

For one brief moment in time the world stopped as two sets of optics met in a field of barley. Green met blue in surprise and a little fear. Harry stopped crying at the sight of the large black mech in front of him. He didn't know why, but a feeling of safety swept over him at the sight of the alien machine. Although he could do without the black mech pointing some sort of weapon at him. Still, the weapon looked like some sort of futuristic cannon or laser that he saw once on a movie. Something that size could make very pretty explosions. Harry cooed up at the large mech in appreciation of fine weaponry. Making the Mech stare down at him in surprise and no little worry.

Chirrup!

Ironhide's cannon never wavered from the target as his logic chip tried and nearly failed to process the impossible sight before him. A sparkling, seemingly no more than thirteen solar cycles old had stopped his chirps and cries in surprise. A Sparkling that was badly damaged and cooing at his cannon? Ironhide shuttered is optics several times but the image didn't go away. The little midnight blue and silver sparkling was cooing at his cannons! Right then and there, Ironhide fell in love with the cutest thing on the planet.

Slowly, so he didn't frighten the injured sparkling further, Ironhide lowered his cannons and pointed them away from the sparkling. He knelt down and slowly reached out to the little one with his other servo while scanning and taking note of the damaged the little mech had somehow sustained. The little one gave a whistling chirp of agitation but Ironhide continued to slowly scoop him up and cuddle the little one on his chassis.

Ironhide muted his vocalizer as the erg to growl became too much for him to contain. The Sparkling's damage was extensive, suggesting the little one had been tortured recently and probably left out in elements to die. Ironhide watched at the sparkling fell asleep against him, warmed by the Weapon Specialist's spark. The Topkick had to wonder where the sparkling came from and where were his creators where located.

Ironhide straightened up and headed towards the road. He somehow managed to transform and get the sleeping sparkling in his cab, before tinting the windows and making a call to base.

::_Ironhide to base._::

Luckily, Sideswipe was the one monitoring communications today instead of Acree. The Chaser freely admitted that she was not built for sitting still for joors on end.

::_This is base. What the sitch?_:: And frag didn't the frontliner sound as bored as he had been a cycle ago.

::_Tell Ratchet to get his scanners and med-bay ready. I'm coming in with injured._::

::_Which one of us was unlucky enough to get damaged?:: _Amusement laced Sideswipe's reply.

::_A sparkling._:: Ironhide replied flatly as he sped up. He had an earth hour more before reaching NEST base.

Sideswipe sputtered over the com in surprise, ::_Whaaat? Have you lost what little memory chips you have left old-timer? There hasn't been a sparkling in over five megavorns!_::

Ironhide growled lowly, ::_No I haven't. The proof is attempting to recharge in my cab_.::

::_Your actually serious!_:: 'Sides was silent for a klik in an attempt to clear his own processor and the reason for the com call became more obvious making the corvette snarl over the line, ::_Who the pit would harm a sparkling!_::

Ironhide's engine revved in irritation, ::_ I have no idea! Not even a Decepticon would harm one now. Get in touch with Optimus and get Ratchet on standby. I'll be there in half a earth hour or less._::

::_Acknowledged!_::

Ironhide signed off as he sped up some more, the road clear of any human traffic. He might not be as fast as Sideswipe but he could put out high speeds when the times asked for them and in his processor this was one such time. His thoughts turned back to the sparkling in his cab. The damages the little guy had sustained seemed to come from a small blade of some type. Ironhide couldn't identify some of the others but there were massive dents and cracks in the thin armour. Energon leaked out of broken lines. The Sparkling's damages seemed extensive and gave him no clue as to who made them. They didn't matter, the sparkling would survive.

Ironhide knew he was going to petition Optimus into letting him become the Sparkling's guardian and caretaker. And he won't let a single thing hurt the cute little mech ever again.

Chirrup!

[Earth – NEST HQ]

Ironhide rolled through the gate and kept on going straight to the hanger serving as Ratchet's med-bay. He drove right by Will Lennox and Robert Epps, both who had come out of the barracks to greet the Top kick. Ironhide spotted Ratchet waiting huffily in front of his med-bay. The two humans looked at each other in worry before hurrying off to catch up to the black Topkick.

Ratchet couldn't be any more pissed off even if the twins tried! Imagine Sideswipe telling him of an injured sparkling. A sparkling! That is a cruel joke to play and to even get Ironhide in on it, why he was going to give his black spark mate a piece of his processor! As if he didn't have enough to do with the Ark and crew on approach vector to Earth, various injuries from raiding various Decepticon mini-bases, and of course repairing metallic slaggers with prankitis. He may be a medic but if the situation didn't let up soon he was going to let loose with his wrench.

The medic stood before his med-bay as Ironhide rumbled up to him, stopping with the driver's side door toward the irate bot. Ratchet was about to say something sarcastic but stopped as the Topkick's doors swung open. Ratchet shuttered his optics several times and rebooted his sight programming. Nope the vision was still there.

"Ratchet?"

"That's a sparkling." shock had taken hold.

"Yes. Fix him before he finishes leaking energon all over the place?"

Getting down on his knees Ratchet reached into the cab and gently took hold of the too small protoform and immediately began taking scans. Once the sparkling was clear oh his cab, Ironhide transformed into bi-ped form looking anxiously at the pair. He became even more worried as Ratchet's faceplates became blank of all emotion. The medic swiftly turned towards his med-bay and shut the massive doors.

"'Hide?" Will questioned as he and Epps finally caught up to the Weapon's Specialist. "What's wrong buddy?"

Ironhide looked down at his human partner with a sad but angry look on his faceplates. He contemplated the two humans for a moment. He examined their concerned expressions and puffed a sigh as Optimus also walked up, also looking for an explanation.

"I found an injured sparkling. Poor guy looked like he had been tortured before being left for dead."

"What? Are you sure Ironhide?" Optimus was definitely shocked but the two humans where confused.

"What's a sparkling?"

The two bots shared a look then Optimus answered, "A sparkling would be the equivalent to a human baby. A very young Cybertronian, who has only basic functions and little to no weapons on it's protoform."

"And you found it injured? Was it Decepticons?" Epps asked.

Ironhide shook his head, "No, the Cons would never do this simply because their ranks wouldn't be bolstered if they did. There's too few of us now for them to even think sparkling torture and killing to be a good thing."

Ironhide fisted a servo and looked up at his leader, "Sir, he was in the middle of nowhere scared out of his spark. I believe rogue humans had him."

Optimus frowned, "Your reasons?"

"Small bladed wounds on the protoform, small dents and armour damage from small objects. And every time he saw a human he hunkered down trying his best to hide."

Optimus narrowed his optics but before he could say anything Ratchet came out of med-bay quivering in absolute rage. By this time Arcee, Jolt and Sideswipe had also made their way to med-bay to get the word on the sparkling. Sideswipe knew that look on the medic's faceplates. He and his twin had only gotten that reaction once and vowed to never torque the Medic that badly ever again.

"Ratchet? How is he?" Jolt asked nervously. He had never seen the CMO that pissed off before.

Ratchet took a few unneeded breaths, trying to get a hold of his temper. He looked at Ironhide, "It was worse than you thought. The sparkling had some sort of rogue virus in his CPU. It looks like a Decepticon had managed to break it but there was still some code left. Those had been cleared from his systems. He had no firewalls what so ever, in fact his defence systems looked blasted apart. The physical injuries are going to be easily fixed but..."

"But what Ratch?" Sideswipe hoped nothing else was wrong.

"From what was left of the virus I managed to determine that it was human written. What the virus was designed to do is nothing short of horrific." Ratchet paused once again getting a hold of his temper. "It was designed to siphon the energy of his spark into another organic being. How this would be accomplished I don't know but as a result... He... He's got spark damage and depletion. The poor sparkling is going to need a long time to recover."

"WHAT!" Ironhide exclaimed snarling in anger. Optimus himself could hold back a deep angry growl at the Sparkling's damage report.

"Are you certain Ratchet?"

"Reran the scan several times Optimus. From what I scanned, a Decepticon was the one who rescued the sparkling."

"I see."

"Do you think it was remnants of Sector 7? Seriously, an organization that's managed to survive for over fifty years couldn't have been shut down quietly." Epps pointed out quietly. Will nodded in agreement, face pensive.

Arcee growled, "These the same humans that tortured Bumblebee?"

Will pulled out his cell phone, "Ya they are. 'Scuse us Optimus but I'm going to make some calls, see if I can scare up some info. Sergeant, I want you to the team together for a general meeting. Security is going to be tightened so get Fig's squad on it pronto."

The Autobots stared wide optic at the Major, Ironhide wasn't surprised, "Will..."

Lennox held up a hand. "'Hide, no need to say anything. I understand better then you know. Just thinking what if these sick twisted fraggers had gotten their mitts on Annabelle for experimentation makes me want to commit homicide. And from what I understand this little guy is a major surprise?"

"Yup. It's been at least five megavorns since a sparkling has been created. Bumblebee was thought to be the last." Sideswipe answered.

"Then I'll times what I'm feeling by a million and hope the guess comes close to what you guys are feeling right now. So yes, we'll look for Intel and tighten security and hope we catch them sooner than later."

Optimus gave Will a grateful look. "Ratchet , is Red Alert still among the crew of the Ark?"

"According to Prowl's report he is."

"Good. Ironhide I want you to send Red Alert a data burst detailing roughly what we have done and send him orders to start planning security measures. Send orders to Prowl to sparkling proof the Ark and set up a nursery. Send additional orders to First Aid to prep one of the Ark's healing chambers for Jazz."

"Jazz? I thought nothing could be done for him." Ironhide replied, hope coloring his vocalizer.

Ratchet made a mechanical snort, "When Megatron ripped him two, the slagger missed Jazz's spark chamber. I've had him in deep stasis with no hope of recovery. But with the coming of the Ark..."

"You can now fix him. "Jolt finished delighted. He had missed the silver saboteur.

Ironhide straightened up to full height and came to attention. "Sir, I would like to take up guardianship of the Sparkling upon his recovery."

"Provided he takes to you, agreed. I can think of no one better to protect and nurture him."

"Thank you sir."

Epps had a peculiar look on his face as he and Will walked back to the com shack. "What is it Epps."

"A Vorn is roughly eighty three human year right?"

"Ya."

"And a megavorn is about a hundred vorns right?"

"Yaaa." Lennox drawled out in a your-point tone.

"So that little guy is the first Cybertronian baby in say," Epps did some quick calculations, "41500 human years right?"

Will thought for a moment, "Yup."

"That is going to be one spoiled kid."

Will grinned, "Yup. He's not going to get the Autobot equivalent of a scrapped knee with Daddy 'Hide there never mind the rest of the 'bots!"

"Exactly."


	3. DLT 03: Crash Test CPU

**Days Like This**

AN: Thank you for all of your reviews! Also this Chapter was betaed by Blue-Tyr!

Com talk ::_Blah_::

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Chapter 3: Crash test CPU

[The Ark – 4 Earth months before arrival]

First Aid let loose an armour blistering string of Cybertronian curses as yet another mech was brought in to the Ark's med-bay by a friend for a crashed CPU. It had only been a joor since the transmissions from Earth base had come in and already half the Ark crew had been in for CPU crashes. Prowl and Red Alert had been carried in after receiving them. A cycle to reboot them, then nearly every other mech they assigned to specific work crews had been brought in. All the CPU crashes because of one little piece of information. Information so impossible given recent disastrous events that the mere existence of said impossibility was crashing CPU's and shorting out processors.

The Autobot Command team had found a sparkling.

Specifically Ironhide had found an injured sparkling. As if the knowledge of the little sparks existence wasn't enough, the medical file that was sent attached to Prowl's and Red Alert's orders had nearly crashed his own CPU. Prowl was dishing out orders for a thorough cleaning of the Ark, having work crews seal off access hatches and vents. Given Prowl's very high standards, not even a speck of cosmic rust was going to be found by the time they reached Earth. Prowl had also tasked Bluestreak, Blaster, and Preceptor with designing a sparkling nursery. Wheeljack had happily set aside his current experiment to design safe toys and puzzles for the little one. That action alone caused a few mechs to crash, causing no few processor aches from First Aid. Red Alert had been conferring with Hound, the rest of Special Ops, and Sunstreaker of all mechs; in securing the Ark from intruders and sparkling alike. With special emphasis given to human type intruders seeing as how not even a Decepticon would harm the sparkling.

Many a mech had questioned this, puzzled since Humans where allies of the Autobots. In a general meeting First Aid had given what little information he could. The sparkling was injured and that it was believed the evil humans where responsible. Red Alert's changes was also causing the CPU crashing and shorting because no one could figure out how the team made the changes work. Even the Dinobots helped by finding little knickknacks and 'nesting' materials for the Sparkling's recharge pad and nursery caused a few crashes.

In all over two thirds of the Ark's hundred seventy five crew members had crashed for the first time in their lifestreams. First Aid sighed as he motioned for the mech to place Cliffjumper on a medical berth, all of these crashes and he still had to set up the CR chamber for Jazz's recovery! Picking up a tool he cursed his superiors and the humans who hurt the sparkling.

Chirrup!

Prowl laid his aching cranial unit on his desk as soon as the last mech left his office. Door wings drooped to their lowest point as he rested. His processor ached from the crash he had earlier but at least his plans and Prime's orders where being fulfilled. When he initially had received the orders from earth, the information had taken several kliks to sink in before his logic circuits had seized and crashed.

The sheer impossibility of a sparkling was enough to make any mechs processor crash, not just his finely tuned one. Prowl had gained new respect for Ironhide for not crashing when confronted with an injured sparkling.

The injuries.

Prowl fisted a servo as he recalled the admittedly long list of damages the Sparkling had been brought in with. The worst of damages being the spark damage. Seeing that on the list had crashed Red Alerts processor as he tried to figure out how the virus would have accomplished such an absurdity. Not even the Decepticons had managed such a feat, now they had to guard against something even the craziest of scientist couldn't hope to accomplish. Yet somehow rogue Humans had done the deed.

Prowl would make sure they paid the price.

Chirrup!

"This is your entire fault Sam!" Bumblebee grumbled good naturedly as he lay on Sarah Lennox's back lawn in biped form.

Sam laughed, "And how do you figure that Bee? It's not my fault the stores didn't have sparkling sized plushies!"

Bee huffed in amusement as both Sam and Sarah went over him to take measurements for a stuffed toy done up in his image. When Bumblebee had found out about the sparkling he had been equal parts horrified and happy. Happy because he wasn't the youngest Cybertronian anymore and that they're numbers had increased even though it was by one. Horrified because of the Sparkling's injuries and how overprotective all of them had gotten, and the tiny mech was still in healing stasis!

Sam was really happy for his alien friends but was deeply ashamed to be part of the human race. Bee had told Sam what Ratchet had learned about the Sparkling's injuries and Sam hadn't taken it well. Sam had then come up with the idea to give the young mech a gift to show that not all humans where bad. He knew that this concept would take time to sink in but he had hope that the Sparkling would see him as a sort of uncle in the future.

So he and Bee had gone to the shopping mall. There they met Mikaela and Miles and together they looked high and low for a toy. Unfortunately all they found was human baby sized things, not adult sized. When they stopped for lunch, Sam had voiced the wishful thought of a human sized plushy to give the kid. Miles had snorted and told Sam he'd have to make one.

Later in the day, Sam had brought up the idea to Sarah Lennox, who he was staying with while not on base with Bumblebee. She had liked the idea and told Sam that she would help him if he got the materials she requested.

So here they are on a bright sunny day not two weeks later getting Bee's last measurements to make sure they had everything proportioned right on the human teenager sized plushy version of Bumblebee. If the toy went over well with the sparkling they were going to do a plushy version of the other Autobots for him as well. Sarah had already made a much smaller plush toy of Ironhide for her and Will's daughter Annabelle.

Chirrup!

Barricade groaned in pain as he came back online. He had forgotten what it felt like to have his logic circuits seize and CPU crash. The very knowledge that had caused him to crash in the first place was still at the top of his processor threatening to crash his CPU again.

A sparkling. The Autobots had found an honest to Primus Sparkling!

He had to report. Barricade knew this and groaned again in misery. His post crash processor ach was threatening to pull him back into recharge. How his older brother Prowl put up with this time and again he had no idea. He cursed the day their creators made the brilliant decision to ignore medical advice and give their sparklings experimental logic chips!

He had overheard the Autobot scout and his pet squishy talking about the sparkling. At first Barricade couldn't believe his audio receptors, thinking the info was a trap in the making. So he discreetly followed the duo to the mall. Shock didn't cover what he felt as he intercepted the transmission between the yellow scout and the Autobot CMO.

:: _Bumblebee to Ratchet_. ::

:: _Ratchet here. Any leads Bumblebee?_ ::

:: _Yep. There is a possible site linked to Sector 7 not far from where Ironhide found the Sparkling._ ::

:: _Relay any information to the Major. Optimus wishes you to stay with your charge in case these slaggers try for him. And no, you cannot go by yourself to shoot a human criminal or two._ ::

:: _Roger._ :: Bumblebee nearly pouted about not being able to follow the lead himself. :: _How is the Sparkling Ratchet?_ ::

Ratchet sighed, :: _He's getting better Bee. I'm giving him at least another orn before letting him out of stasis. Protoform repairs are complete, I'm just being careful with his spark damage._ ::

:: _Thanks for the update, Ratch._ ::

To his embarrassment, Barricade had a CPU crash right after. In fact the enforcer had onlined right where he parked at the mall two orns ago. Processor still aching Barricade decided to let himself slip back into recharge. This way he could make the report about the Sparkling in person and be well enough to enjoy the reactions of the others.

Chirrup!

Ratchet loomed over Sideswipe's fearful and mirthful frame in anger. Waving a wrench under the frontliner's nasal sensors in threat, Ratchet was beyond angry at the state of his Med-bay. Every area he looked at was covered in foam and paint of different colours. With the exception of the berth that held the recharging Sparkling, every surface was in garish colours. Seemed even Sideswipe still had a little survival sense.

"And what did you think you were doing Sideswipe!" Ratchet snarled.

Sides lifted both servos in an attempted to stave off the irate Medic. "Just living the place up so the little guy won't be horrified at the tasteless décor Ratchet!"

"This is my medical bay! Not your canvas! You'll be cleaning up this mess!"

"Awww common Ratchet..."

Ratchet swiftly bonked Sideswipe on his helm with the wrench. Delighted warbling could be heard coming from behind the Medic. Ratchet took several seconds to confirm the sound before whirling around to face the bright green optics of an amused Sparkling.

"Liked that did you?" Ratchet responded, anger forgotten in the face of the Sparkling's amusement.

Harry chirrped a yes in reply. The argument the two mechs had been having woke him up. Harry had been way too amused at seeing the state of the Med-bay to be overly shocked yet by yet two more mechanical beings or his own state. While he had been sleeping he had strange sort of dreams about these being at what they where and what he had become. Harry assumed that some of the facts he knew had been downloaded somehow into his mind while he was asleep.

Harry whirred at the yellow and green mech as he felt a scan pass through him. It tickled!

"Well, you seem to be doing much better then two orns ago."

Harry chirped in query, what the heck was an orn?

Sideswipe laughed a little from his place by the med-bay doors, "Don't you mean sixteen Earth days Ratchet? You must be getting old if you can't remember Optimus' orders to use Earth time measurements!"

The silver corvette nearly made it out the doors when Ratchet's blind throw of his wrench hit the target of Sideswipe's helm causing Harry to warble in laughter again as Sides was knocked to the floor. A pitiful groan could be heard coming from the mech on the floor.

Ratchet just smirked at Harry as he gently removed the Energon feeding line from one of Harry's outer Energon lines.

"I've had you in healing stasis for two orns little sparklet. Your damage was severe. However you are eighty percent recovered but will be remaining here in med-bay for another two joors at least." Ratchet informed him in a soft tone, "I wonder if you could tell me who did these things too you."Ratchet watched in worry as Harry tried to process the facts.

Fact one, he was in his animigus form that just happened to be mechanical. How did he go from organic to mechanical in the first place? That shouldn't have been possible!

Fact two, Harry was right that he was a baby version of these Cybertronians from the simple fact of height. The one Harry thought was the prankster was seriously tall, taller than the one who was the healer.

Fact three, he couldn't feel his magic or the magic in the air. So either he was in some magical less place or another dimension. With evidence of superior technology that was greater then what he knew of muggles to be using he'd put money down with alternate dimension.

Fact four, the injuries he suffered from Voldemort and his followers had obviously transferred from his human form to his sparkling form. They had been healed while he had been unconscious.

Harry began to think about his losses and how relieved he felt to no longer be near the ones hurting him. Harry had a vague memory of another mech, who looked old and torn but still dangerous seeming with those spikes protruding from his frame. Of how comforting the mech's coos where as he had hacked into Harry's new processor and made Voldemort's last plan go up in smoke. Strangely, Harry knew he was going to miss the first robot he met. Knowing instinctively that the mech died getting him to safety. This knowledge coupled with all the other stresses and delayed grief made Harry want to cry for the first time in years. He didn't fight the rising tide of emotions but instead gave in to them. Finally letting them out in the only way he could in this form.

Ratchet gathered up Sparkling Harry to his chassis as he began to wail and cry. The memories and remembered pain proving too much for Harry to process all at once. Ratchets cooed and chirped at the distraught sparkling as well as rev his engine in comfort. Several long minutes passed by before Harry's cries faded.

"Ratchet?"

The medic turned to face his concerned bonded, one servo gently rubbing Harry's helm. "He'll be alright. How did?"

"Sideswipe got me from the range."

At the sound of Ironhide's voice Harry looked up from Ratchet chassis. Recognizing his rescuer Harry began to chirp and coo at the black Topkick energon tears forgotten at the sight of his second rescuer. Twisting around in Ratchet's hold Harry reached towards Ironhide with his small servos, his door wings lifted from his back in delight for the first time.

Ironhide laughed and picked up the sparkling, being mindful of the newly mobile door wings. "Aww hello there little mech, feeling better?"

Harry chirped an affirmative as he cuddled the huge black chassis. Feelings of warmth and safety overtaking him, causing him to yawn a little even if he wasn't feeling tired.

Ratchet watched the scene with a knowing smirk. "Get him outta here for a little while Hide. Go introduce him to some unsuspecting bots. I'll hunt down Sideswipe to help me clean up my med-bay."

Ironhide smirked at his bonded, "Will do. Let's go sparklet. Optimus wanted to see you when you woke up. Might as well be now."

Harry warbled and chirped in agreement even though he had no idea who the Weapons Specialist was talking about.

TBC


	4. DLT 04: Sparkling Surprise

**Days Like This**

_AN: This chapter was betaed by Blue-Tyr. The first few chapters where edited. Much thanks to Missingnin0x0 For help on time measurements!_

_Also some time measurements that I'm using as taken from TFwiki:_

_Astrosecond = .498 seconds_

_Klik = 1.2 minutes_

_Nanoklik = 1 second_

_Breem = 8.3 Minutes_

_Cycle = 1.25 hrs_

_Joor = (I'm defining this one) about 8.3 hrs_

_Orn = (I'm defining this one) about 8 days_

_Vorn = 83 years_

_Megavorn = (I'm defining this one) about 8.3 million years_

_Steller cycle = 1 year_

_Solar cycle = 1 day_

'_Blah_' – Thoughts

* * *

_Chapter 4: Sparkling Surprise_

Mindful of the newly expressive door wings, Ironhide manoeuvred Harry to sit on one arm as the other arm was used like a safety bar. The restraining servo curled gently around the sparkling's waist. In this way Harry could look down the hallways as the Topkick carried him and still have freedom to move his door wings or lean back against the large chassis. After settling the midnight blue and silver sparkling at a better angle in his arms, Ironhide left med-bay and slowly made his way to the Autobot version of the base control room. The weapons specialist was not yet willing to show the little traumatized mech to their human allies just yet.

Harry whirred in laughter as he placed his tiny servos over the forearm being used like a seat belt. He wiggled and kicked his human adult sized peds a little as he got comfortable on the large mechs other arm. Bright forest green optics looked around in wonder at the bot sized halls and rooms, all light shades of green and grey and brown. Light glinted off of the small pointed gold chevron as Harry swivelled his midnight blue helm around in an attempt to look at everything at once. Harry chirped and cooed at the things that caught his attention. Blue and silver door wings bouncing and twitching in Harry's excitement in being in a new place. Harry knew he should be freaking out about being in a place completely different from what he's used too; but he just couldn't bring himself to do so. These robots, people, beings had rescued him and healed him up without knowing who he was. Sure, Harry felt he was missing something important about his situation but that didn't matter at the moment. All he knew was that the spiky robot with the purple face insignia had rescued him from the Veil and sent him to the giant robots with the red face insignia for safety and protection. That was more than Dumbledore had done!

Sure he didn't trust them all that much yet, but if they kept treating him this way then he was all for staying! Now if he could only learn to talk in this form then he'd be all set.

Ironhide kept an optic on Harry. Noting his reactions in amusement as he traversed the halls; Ironhide made his way to Optimus' office. They were in the most secure area of the Autobot earth base; only five humans had the clearance necessary to enter. And of those humans only Lennox and Epps did so regularly. The other three only came when Bumblebee made his weekly reports.

The coos and chirps the sparkling vocalized at nearly everything they passed relieved Ironhide somewhat. He had worried that the little mech was too damaged to react to anything with only fear. But seeing his delight at Ironhide's appearance eased something in his spark. Glad that the sparkling seemed to know other emotions, Ironhide watched as the tiny door wings kept perking in delight. It was obvious the sparkling was happy to be out and about.

Ironhide rumbled in amusement at the wide optic glance and questioning chirp the sparkling made as they passed the Arcee sisters doing monitor duty. All three looked up as they passed and waved at them.

"That was Arcee, little one. We'll stop and visit her after we've seen Optimus." The weapons specialist promised as they continued down the hall. After another minute they stopped at a large door. Ironhide sent a comm. ping to let the Prime know who was at his door. With a small whoosh, the office door opened revealing a large desk and a holo-monitor off to the side. Prime stood up as Ironhide stopped before the desk, azure optics locked on to the wide optic sparkling.

Harry had never seen someone so huge before! Had he still been human he would have probably only topped an ankle! He couldn't help but stare with wide green optics at the large mech, amazed and in awe all at once. Harry couldn't help but tightly clutch the arm holding him to the black chassis. Even with the face mask in place, Harry just knew the big mech was amused at his reaction.

It had been a veeerry long time since Optimus needed the skill of door wing speak, but judging from how high the little door wings were and but how much they're quivering, Optimus knew the sparkling was surprised by him. He was amused by this and a little saddened as well. It had just been so pit damned long since the last sparkling that he had forgotten how they reacted to him the first time they saw him.

Modulating his tone into something soft and comforting, Optimus smiled as he spoke, "Hello little one. I'm glad to see you're up and fully functional. My designation is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

Slowly and cautiously, Optimus raised a servo out to the little one.

"Chirp! Chirrr whirr irp." Harry replied shyly lifting one small servo to grab Optimus' pointer finger.

Optimus chuckled delightedly, happy with the Sparkling's bravery and seeming lack of fear of him. He gently pulled away from the sparkling.

"Sir. Ratchet wanted him to stay in med-bay for few more Joors. He's happy with the little one's progress but still concerned about the lingering spark damage."

Optimus vented a sigh, understanding what wasn't being said. Spark damage was severely serious in any bot, but for one so young any injury to the spark could cause irreparable harm or even sudden premature deactivation. And the Little One's spark was not repairing as fast as was hoped.

"Ratchet had managed to identify the Decepticon in this one's memories."

"Chirp?", Harry asked looking up and backward as far as he could to look at the Topkick's faceplates.

"The identity of the mech?"

"A fast minicon Seeker spy designated Trailwind. What information Mirage could dig up suggests that the Seeker disappeared some thirteen steller cycles ago a few sectors over. He was presumed deactivated at the time due to in faction fighting. Ratchet believes Trailwind suffered severe damage and could not spacebridge them out of danger. Ratchet also said that the con's self repair must have also been damaged for it to take so long to repair some of his systems. He also believes Trailwind did not survive getting this one to safety."

"Chiiirrp?" Harry warble saddened at the thought, his optics becoming watery.

Optimus placed two fingers on Harry's helm, rubbed him comfortingly. Harry's systems started to purr slightly at the offered comfort.

"Was he created via the Allspark?"

"No, there was no detection of any Allspark energy. Trailwind must have been carrying him. He was also given a designation." Ironhide trailed off teasingly. He knew two orns was a long time to such important info.

"Chirp? whirrr", Harry didn't know that.

Optimus gave Ironhide a telling look. Ironhide just smirked, enjoying drawing out his report.

"And no, Ratchet does not know who the other creator is."

"Ironhide!"

"Oh fine. Spoil my fun. He's designated..."

Chirrup!

Major Lennox, Sergeant Epps, and Captain Fig stood in front of the debrief screen in the main briefing room of NEST HQ. In front of them sat or perched on every available surface was nearly every trust worthy human currently on base. Since the day two and half weeks ago the Human contingent of the base met every few days to discuss and report on the implemented changes and get a Sparkling Update.

Robert Epps was highly amused that the bi-weekly meeting had gained a title in capitals. Ever since they learned about the little guy, every single member of their force got taken over by protective urges fuelled by sheer anger. Humans are possessive by nature and because of that the Cybertronian allies on base was theirs. Their friends, bots in arms, to love and protect trusting the Autobots would do the same in return.

When the sparkling was brought in he also became theirs. True he way too young to choose a faction but that didn't matter. What mattered was that a bot version of a new born had been tortured by humans. Those stationed at NEST HQ would not tolerate and will avenge... slowly... the damages done to one of their own.

'_Even if they haven't seen him yet.'_ Epps thought as personnel quieted down.

"Alright let's get started. Status Fig?" Will leaned back in his chair.

"Right, as of now security is so tight around the Autobot half of base without being obvious that even the roaches will have to have acceptable ID before entering." Fig grinned at the chuckles, "Galloway cannot get in with his flunkies, and they don't have the proper security clearance."

Some in the audience snickered at that. Galloway was one of their least favourite people at the moment. Fig wait a moment for the amusement to die down, "We have come up with some new features for around base and are implementing them now. Within the next few days everyone will be receiving a new key card. Don't lose them and remember your passwords, 'cause I doubt Ironhide will be willing to change them if you forget. At an irregular time every few months, 'hide will approach you for password changes when he's not busy sparkling sitting."

Will laughed, "Once the little guy feels safe I have no doubt he'll run them ragged. They haven't had sparkling in five megavorns." Those with kids in the audience could only laugh or smirk evilly at the thought.

Fig whistled in awe, "Seriously boss? That many years? Shit, he's going to run them over! These guys will have no idea what to do with him!"

A marine Staff Sergeant by the name of Lance McCartney shifted in his chair, "Sirs. What is a megavorn?"

"About eight point three million human years; I had to ask Jolt to clarify." Fig answered. Will and Epps looked at each other in slight confusion. Epps whipped out a pad and pen from one of his numerous pockets and did the math.

"Forty one million and five hundred thousand human years.", shocked silence reigned supreme in the meeting room.

"Duuuude, no wonder the bots a rabid!" sergeant Jamie Claypool exclaimed, the blond Californian couldn't help but gap at the numbers.

Will shuddered a little, "Rabid doesn't do what they're feeling justice Sergeant Claypool. Fanatical, is closest. Optimus told us that not even the 'cons are going to hurt the little guy. Once they find out, and they will find out, we're going to see a lot more of them."

Robert twitched as his phone started buzzing in the tense silence that followed that tidbit of information. Seeing the caller was Sideswipe he answered it. All eyes were on him as he talked with the Autobot frontliner. Epps couldn't keep the wide grin off his face as he hung up a few minutes later.

"Well?" The Major just knew it was about the Sparkling.

Epps wide grin got impossibley wider, "Little guy is up and about. Ironhide's got him. He's not completely better yet, but Ratchet is sure he'll make a full recovery." He couldn't go on due to everyone bursting out in cheers and laughter. The officers let the cheering go on for a few minutes before calming their troops down.

"Alright couple more things. The bots will introduce him to us in a few weeks. They want him to get used to them first before seeing us. Also his name is Blitzwind."

Chirrup!

Ratchet cursed lightly in Cybertronian as he went over the current readouts of the Sparkling. He wondered who on the Autobot side the mini Seeker had been interfacing with for the sparkling to have both Con and Bot programming within him. Pit, the small protoform was a mix between Bot and Con. He may have most of the looks of a Praxian but the spikier features came from Trailwind. The evidence of this was the pointed fingertips on the servos, pointer chevron and pointed light shoulder and knee armour.

And the programming! Somehow the two different sets of programming had integrated to the point of fusion. Allowing for higher processing speed and power as well as allowing for higher than normal self repair nanites. The self repair couldn't fix everything; the evidence of this was the small scars he had found on the small protoform. Those, Ratchet had fixed up and smoothed with infinite care before going off to see Ironhide. Either to rage about or sob on his bondmate.

There was a little known fact that Ratchet truly cared about those bots that came under his servos for repairs. True, his way of making sure they don't repeat the stupidity that puts them there in the first place may be over the top. But if his raging at them keeps them functioning then he was all for it.

But he couldn't... wouldn't do that to a sparkling. Oh he had no doubt the little mech will frag him off in the long vorns to come but he was not going to add to the trauma.

Chirrup!

Barricade rolled into Decepticon base radiating barely leashed amusement and anticipation. He timed his reappearance for about the same time that Megatron met his officers for updates and planning. As head scout on planet, he had to be there. Oh but this was going to be hilarious!

Transforming, Barricade made his way into Megatron's throne room.

'Oh _excellent! Not only the Command Trine, but Soundwave and Hook too! And where Hook is the rest of his team couldn't be far behind. And there is the Construticons as well!_' Barricade was nearly purring in excitement at his observations. The sound gardening strange and fearful looks from his fellow Cons.

"Barricade."

"Yes, Lord Megatron?"

"What news do you bring that excites you so?"

"The Autobots have found a sparkling, Lord Megatron."

Silence permeated the air before loud incredulous laughter burst forth. Starscream shook his helm in disbelief, not at all amused by that. "Surely you jest! A sparkling? It's been too long and there is no Allspark to get more!"

Barricade, still amused, sneered at the seeker before playing the recording of the conversation between The Autobot CMO and scout.

Once more silence reigned before the Throne room was filled with the sound of mechs' processors glitching and causing them crash before bodies hit the floor.

Barricade looked around in satisfaction as every single con in the room had crashed. Megatron was lucky he was sitting on his Throne else he would be in an ungainly heap on the floor. Even the Con CMO had crashed, so there wasn't anything he could do but wait for them to come around.

Cackling reverberated off the base walls as Barricade left to go to his quarters. He was going to preserve this moment in his processors for as long as he continued to function.

'_This way I won't be around when Starscream and his Trine wake enraged. The recording did report for me that the sparkling was injured by squishies._' With this thought, the Black scout settled down for some more recharge.

Chirrup!

Starscream held back another moan of processor splitting throbs assaulted his sensor net. It was the first time he glitched like that. Embarrassing, true but he wasn't the only one.

'_Even Mighty Megatron fell offline at the news._'

With a small whine from his engine he cuddled closer to his Trine mates. Processors busy picking apart the small amount of information that fragging pain in the aft scout had acquired. It wasn't much but one fact stood out like a squishy neon sign. The Sparkling had been damaged somehow.

Deep inside his processors, Starscream felt long unused programming spring to life. Demanding he go and avenge the sparkling. The erg to protect it wasn't there. Instinctively he knew the Autobots would do everything in their measly power to protect it. Leaving him free to find the fleshies responsible and torture them to death.

Starscream finally fell into recharge, dreaming and plotting human suffering.

Chirrup!

Megatron snarled as he paced his chambers. Clawed servos clenched tight as he struggled to contain his rage. In one fell swoop, every single one of his plans had fallen apart. Even the long standing ones.

After onlining, he left his cons on the floor and staggered to his berth, processor splitting in pain he never felt before. He fell into recharge and woke not a joor later. Meta groggy but clearing up fast.

A Unicron be damned sparkling.

On Cybertron, he had kept all of his Praxian and Seeker forces carefully away from the sparkling and youth sectors. Instead he sent in other types of troops to get rid of the weaklings located there in. Those that didn't join his forces were given to loyal Cons for extermination. He couldn't have sent in the others due to the irremovable base programming that demanded all Seekers and their Praxian cousins to protect and avenge sparklings. He made sure to keep this from his Air Commander, knowing the Seeker would do everything in his power to deactivate him and probably succeed too.

Now after all these vorns there was another one, threatening his plans. Worse, it was already in Autobot servos and heavily protected. Worse still, is that his Seekers know and Barricade know this. Earlier he sent Soundwave to locate the current Autobot base and confirm the thing's presence.

Now all he had to do was wait. And he'll kill the thing himself.

TBC

AN2: Just wanted to note that the McCartney name and family belongs to Blue-Tyr. I just added a little bro cause I didn't want to borrow an OC.


	5. DLT 05: Meet the Bots

**Days Like This**

AN: Please refer to the first chapter for disclaimer, and ch 4 for time measurements. Once again chapters 1,2 & 4 have been edited.

Warnings: TF swearing, Non-gendered mech/mech pairings implied

"_Blah" _com speech

* * *

_Chapter 5: Meet the Bots_

Excerpt from _Southern Cybertron: A History_:

"_Near the end of the civil war between the Flyers of Vos and the Drivers of Iacon; an Iacon Medical scientist designated Flatline designed a most heinous virus. This virus called Flightless, infected half the Flyers of Vos and grounded them for the rest of their existence. Some of the infected lost their processors as being flightless was too much to handle. But in a curious twist that could only be by the servos of Primus; most of those infected with Flightless did not go insane as the designer intended. Instead they became the ground versions of their uninfected brethren, without the sky hunger. Without having the ability to fly those infected redesigned themselves to have sensory wing panels instead of having the full wings of their Vosian siblings. At the war's end, these bots left Vos and founded Praxus."_

_~Doom Bringer & Keeper of Ways _

_-Jetfire_

_Chirrup!_

**Nemesis – somewhere on Earth:**

Hook snarled, clawing another diagram into shreds. Worthless, absolutely useless! Not a single design was useful or tasteful let alone secure! Nothing less than perfection would do for what he and his fellow gestalt mates are about to build! They built some of the most glorious Towers ever to grace Crystal City so why was it so pit damned hard to create a safe and secure nursery for a sparkling? Why?

"Hook! Hook!" Scavenger called excitedly, "They agreed! They really agreed!"

Hook nearly snarled at his brother but managed to restrain himself, barely. "Who agreed to what?"

Scavenger was startled at his brother's mood but didn't let it affect him, "Starscream agreed to provide some of the toys he was saving for the hatchlings and Barricade agreed to look for a securable area for us to build the sparkling's nursery!" Scavenger bounced delightedly on his peds, "Our other brothers are really excited! Mixmaster is already beginning to forge the building materials we need out in space! And the others are out acquiring whatever else we'll need; soft material for the berth and flooring. Things like that! How are the blueprints coming along?"

Hook calmed himself down, it was a rare thing for his brothers to be this happy or excited about anything. "They are not coming along. The war has gone on for such a long time I think I've almost forgotten how to create instead of destroy! And what do you mean Mixmaster is forging some of the materials we'll need? And why in space?"

Scavenger clapped his hands over his lip components sheepishly.

"Sc..av..en..gerrrr."

"oh well you know that alloy we found from that blackholeright?well..."

"Scavenger! Slower please. What about the black hole alloy?"

"uh, Mixmaster found out that the gravity wells of planets affect the strength of the alloy during the purification process so he had me bring his mobile forge so he could work on purifying the metals. Mix said that there will only be enough for one or two rooms so he's also going to see about strengthening the metals found on this planet. Oh Mix reported that the metal was supremely strong and able to withstand rapid fire plasma cannons!"

"I see." Hook considered what he had been told. One or two rooms eh?

Scavenger watched happily as Hook once again bent over his work table, rapidly drawing the images suddenly coming to him.

_Chirrup!_

**Ark – T-minus 4 earth months from Earth**

"Uh Prowl? Do you have an astro-second?"

Prowl looked from his holoscreen to see a fidgety Bluestreak in the doorway. He motioned the gunner into his office. Bluestreak partially vibrating into the office, letting the door slide shut behind him. He immediately began to pace, door panels arched high in threat position and hands clenching and unclenching sporadically.

"Bluestreak?"

The gunner didn't seem to hear Prowl, he just continued to pace and mutter to himself.

"Bluestreak!"

Prowl was once again ignored. With a huff, the TiC rose from his chair and stood in Bluestreak's path. The grey Praxian stopped just short of Prowl, looking into the caring optics of his commander, and finally gave voice to what he was feeling.

"Why is it that I have this extreme urge to go down to that miserable mud ball of an organic planet and destroy every squishy I see? It doesn't make sense! I don't like random slaughter! Yet all I want to do is take some of Grapple's good explosives and blow some up! We're allied with them and from some of the communiqués a few of these humans are really good friends of ours! And yet I still want to use the rest of the race for target practice!" Bluestreak cried out in frustration.

Throughout Blue's tirade, Prowl remained calm and unsurprised. He thought he knew where this was coming from but had to make sure, "Blue? Calm down and tell me when you started feeling this way?"

Bluestreak's fans whirred to life in an attempt to keep his systems from heating even more from his anger, "Well it wasn't too bad initially. I was disgusted with the humans when you debriefed us about the sparkling, but..." Bluestreak paused in indecision then forged ahead, "You know I'm dating First Aid right? Did you know that First Aid received the Sparkling's medical report from Ratchet? Wait of course you do, probably passed it on to him but anyway First Aid was really distraught by what he read. He didn't tell me everything but some of the things..." Bluestreak trailed off shuddering.

Prowl nodded understanding what was happening with the gunner. He laid his hands on Blue's shoulder armour in comfort. "I saw the report. I know about the spark damage."

"How can anyone do that to a sparkling?"

"Blue, more than likely the humans had no idea what they had in their clutches. They had Megatron for nearly fifty steller cycles and based their technology off of what they managed to reverse engineer from him. I'm not surprised they did something like this to a more vulnerable a target. To most of them we are just sparkless machines. Is it any wonder they would treat a sparkling as nothing more than an object to be studied?" Prowl replied logically, his own temper slowly rising once more as his battle computer brought up likely scenarios of what happened to that poor sparkling.

Bluestreak's hands fisted, "No. But that still doesn't mean I should want to obliterate the whole race with extreme prejudice!"

"If you're functioning properly, then yes it does."

Bluestreak gapped his fellow Praxian speechless.

Prowl chuckled lightly. He gently pushed the gunner out of his office and towards a lift in order to guide Bluestreak to the practice rings and began to explain, "Your young enough that you might not know some of your dormant programming Bluestreak but I assure you what you're going through at this moment is normal. Expected even. Like Vosnians, Praxians have Sparkling protection and avenging protocols that awaken when a sparkling is in danger or harmed..."

_Chirrup!_

**Autobot Base: NEST Base - Earth**

Harry didn't know which way to look, before him standing on their wheels were there different coloured versions of the same bot. He didn't understand how one spark could be in three different bodies at the same time doing three different things; but thought it was pretty cool even if he wondered how painful the process must have been. Harry sat in Ironhide's arms, optics wide as he tried to watch all three at once. Two of the sisters sat at their terminals keeping an optic on cameras and radars while the reddish pink one slowly approached the two. She stopped within reaching distance of the pair; light blue optics alight with curiosity.

Ironhide cooed at Harry, having noticed that the sparkling had tensed up, little doorwings fluttering. The Weapon's Specialist was not as versed in doorwing language as Ratchet or Jazz, but he could tell a few basic things. Such as when the doorwinged mech was threatening somebot, or when they are excited about something.

Glancing up at Ironhide for permission, Arcee slowly lifted her clawed hands toward the cute little sparkling. Harry reached out with his own little hands and cautiously grabbed hold of one of the Chaser's fingers. Arcee chuckled lightly as she allowed her hand to be brought closer to the sparkling so he could get a better look at it. The mechlet chirped when she wiggled her finger free of the little guy's grasp.

"I have a present for you, sparklet." The chaser held up a small energon goody with her other hand. With Ironhide's nod of permission she held it out for the sparkling to take and broke a little on the inside as he just chirped and whirred at her in blatant confusion.

Harry hesitated chirping his confusion at the thing being held at him. He didn't know what the glowing blue thing was and he didn't want it if the thing was going to harm him in any way!

Ironhide cooed comfortingly at the sparkling, "It's alright Blitzwind. That is an energon goody. A treat we make out of energon. It's a treat like a human cookie or candy. The treat won't harm ya, well unless ya eat too many."

"Then Ratchet will ban energon goodies for vorns." Acree added on dryly.

"That he would."

Harry clicked in acknowledgment. Taking the goody from Arcee he studied the glowing blue treat before taking a cautious bit out of it. Doorwings arched up in surprise as the taste of sweet energy exploded across mouth sensors. He couldn't name the taste if he was asked to try but took a second bite. Yup the flavour was the same. Harry purred lowly as he consumed the small treat with enthusiasm. Another was held up to him. He chirped a thank you to Arcee, his whole frame bouncing in delight as he took the new one to nibble on.

Arcee waved at them as they left. Ironhide ambled down to the rec room. With luck somebot would be in there for him to relinquish Blitzwind to temporarily while he got some energon. When the two mechs arrived Ironhide saw Jolt watching TV. Harry's optics widened at the sheer size of the room they had entered. They room could hold over a hundred bots easily! Just how big was this place anyway!

"Hey Jolt! Why don't ya come over here and meet Blitzwind!"

Jolt twisted around to look the pair, "Whose Blitzwind? Oh!" Jolt jumped up and rushed towards them when he saw the sparkling he had only heard about. He had never seen a real live sparkling before! Awa he looked to cute with wide optics and an energon goodie in his mouth! Were those sensory panels on the mechlet's back?

"Whoa there mech! Don't startle the little one!"

Embarrassed and excited all at once, Jolt stopped short of the two and gave Ironhide turbo puppy optics. "Oh please let me hold him! I've never held one before but I promise not to drop him!"

Ironhide chuckled at Jolt's enthusiasm, "Alright. Just mind his wing panels. Those just started moving today so they'll be tender. I need ta get some energon so you can hold him until I'm finished my ration."

Jolt nodded. He took the small sparkling and held him against his chest plates, giving Harry a hug. For his part, Harry cooed at Jolt. A half eaten energon goodie in one hand but the other was latched onto the mech's chest platting. He got a good feeling from this one so he snuggled into the whip master's embrace. Jolt nuzzled Harry's helm, happy that the sparklet was happy.

The peaceful atmosphere around the two shattered as Skids and Mudflap loudly burst into the Rec room startling the pair. The twins were fighting again. Harry whirred and clicked in fright, frame beginning to shake. Jolt revved his engine in an attempt to calm him. Hugging the sparkling with one arm, Jolt ignited one of his whips with the other. He snapped the whip once to get the twins attention. The two ignored his warning and continued to fight. Jolt waited an astro-second then at the right moment cracked his energon whip across two helms causing twin yelps.

They separated to turn on the one who hit them but stopped dead in their tracks. Jolt was glaring fiercely at them while holding a distressed and clicking sparkling.

Mudflap pointed to the clicking bundle of parts, "Is dat da sparkling?"

"Yes and your fighting upset him! You should have heard by now that Ratchet had let him out of med-bay!"

"But we've just got back from patrol! How are we supposed ta know 'e was out!" Skids protested.

"Who upset Blitzwind!" Ironhide snapped, energon forgotten due to the distressed clicking, cannons online and hot. Jolt pointed at the short twins, cooing at Harry and rubbing his back struts soothingly. "I'm gonna use you two for target practice if ya upset him again! Didn't Ratchet contact ya?"

"Ya mech but!" Skids looked wide optic at the black mech.

"But nothing! Try controlling yerselves for once!"

"Yes sir Ironhide sir!" They chorused at cannon point.

_Chirrup!_

**12 hrs later:**

"Is there something you needed Ratchet?" Optimus starred at his preoccupied CMO in concern.

"No. Not really Prime. I'm here to give you my report on Blitzwind." Ratchet dropped himself intone of the chairs littering the office.

"Have you discovered anything new?" Optimus leaned back in his own seat.

"Not quite. I gave him another scan when Ironhide brought him back for some recharge. The interaction seems to have done him some good. I'll continue to let him out of med-bay provided the other mechs behave themselves." Ratchet grumbled, irritated. "No what I have is a report on his protoform development."

"Development?"

"Yes. I've determined his age to be about fifteen steller cycles old. His protoform is not as developed as I would like but giving his circumstances I'm fragging surprised it's as advanced as it is! He won't be able to walk for another few vorns yet. But has learned to crawl somewhat. He won't go anywhere fast but he's still mobile. His vocalizer is not that advanced, he's only capable of sparkling speech for the next five to six vorns. I suspect Trailwind was suppressing some of Blitzwind's subroutines to make the sparklet seem unimportant. With the suppressors gone, Blitzwind is now able to express himself more. Hence why his sensory panels activated today instead of earlier."

"Yes, those panels are most expressive and cute." Optimus mused with a smile.

"All of us think those panels are cute. I can only imagine what the mechs on the Ark are going to say when they seem them." Ratchet replied with a laugh before turning serious again, "His processors are still repairing themselves."

"Still repairing? I believe you said that his spark was the only thing left?"

Ratchet nodded tiredly, "I did. I missed something obvious during my other scans. I must have assumed that some of the data was normal for him." Ratchet paused in order to gather his thoughts.

Optimus kept silent waiting for Ratchet to continue. The Prime knew that repairing the sparkling had been very hard for Ratchet to do after so many megavorns repairing only soldiers.

"Optimus the reason his spark is taking so long to heal are those lines of fragged up coding calling it's self a spark leach. The virus hadn't been in his systems for only a short time period of time like I had initially reported. That virus had been implanted in him after he turned one steller cycle old. Pit I'm surprised he understands as much Cybertronian as he does."

Optimus starred in dawning horror at his CMO.

"Prime, that virus acted as a suppressor for Blitzwind's processors and spark energy, causing unseen damage in all areas; his optics, his developing processors, his memory chips, his vocalizer, and his battle computer."

Optimus bolted upright in surprise, "Battle computer? You're not suggesting Prowl is the other creator are you?"

Ratchet shook his helm in the negative, "No, well maybe. I can't be certain. For all we know the other creator could be Smokescreen, Bluestreak or even Silverstreak! As it stands we know very little about Trailwind to guess whether he had a battle computer or not. I know one of his creators had to have one in order for the sparkling to have one."

"Primus."

_Chirrup!_

**Time Skip: One orn later **

**Nemesis – somewhere on Earth:**

"Pit!" The curse rang out as several storage crates fell atop of the purple flyer. Thundercracker snickered from his spot by some other crates, sifting through them too look for more puzzles. Admiring Skywarp's aft as he wiggles out from underneath the fallen crates. Skywarp eventually pulled himself and glared at his sniggering trine mate.

"Some help you are!", Skywarp dusted himself off before turning back to the long untouched crates.

"I was admiring the view 'warp! Such a fine view it was too!" Thundercracker leered.

"Riiight. I'll interface with you later. I want to find those toys first." Skywarp replied amused.

"I can't believe Starscream saved all of this slag." Thundercracker grumbled venting air a little. The blue Seeker replaced the lid of one crate only to lift up another.

"He saved them for the hatc..." Skywarp stopped mid word in pleasure, "Oh I found them!" Thundercracker sighed in relief and closed the crate he was looking through. Turning toward his fellow Seeker, he could only stare as one of the old toys was held up to his optics.

The purple Seeker held up a musical puzzle box, "Think the sparklet would like this one?"

Thundercracker leaned away from the toy, gently pushing the hand away. He gave Skywarp an understanding look, "I don't know 'warp. Until Soundwave returns from his mission, we won't even know how old the sparkling is, let alone what he might like!"

"It's been a whole fragging orn TC! What in the pit is that fragger doing? Baking energon goodies!" Skywarp snapped frustrated with the lack of information.

TC rested his hands on Skywarp's shoulders, "We both know that Autoscum defensive and anti-spy measures are slagging good. With the sparkling there, those Pit-spawn are going to be on high alert. Until Soundwave returns there is no way we can even plan to get our servos on the bundle of parts."

Skywarp leaned into TC's embrace with a sigh, "I know."

_Chirrup!_

**Autobot Base: NEST Base - Earth**

At long last, Ratchet had deemed him fit enough to be taken outside! Oh he couldn't wait. Ironhide had said that it was even sunny! Harry cooed in excitement from his berth in med-bay. He hadn't seen the sun in what seemed forever! Harry rolled from his side and onto his front then wiggled himself into crawling position. It was a little embarrassing for him to be reduced to crawling of all things when he was used to walking upright but there was no help for it. At least there was nobody from his old life around to see him like this!

With a chirp Harry slowly crawled to the edge of his birth and peered over chirping in astonishment. That was a long way down! He had no idea that he was such a long way up all this time! But he was determined to get down, somehow. There was a room he was really curious about on the other side of med-bay. He'd seen Ratchet go in there regularly, so Harry figured there was an injured mech in there that he had yet to meet. Since meeting him seemed to cheer up all the other bots on base Harry thought he could cheer the injured one up as well.

Harry looked around for inspiration but he squealed in surprise when Ratchet picked him up.

Chuckling Ratchet nuzzled Harry's helm, "Excited to be going outside sparklet?" He asked settling Harry in his arms the same way Ironhide did when carrying him around base.

Harry chirped and cooed at the medic. Foiled for now but he'd find away! Harry settled into his 'seat' as Ratchet took different corridors then he'd seen. These ones led to a lift. The lift took them to the surface part of Autobot base. He'd never been in this part of the base yet! The walls seemed to be dull silver. The rooms they passed had been built to accommodate both humans and Cybertronians.

What was that! Harry whipped his helm around clicking, trying to see the shiny thing that caught his optics but it was already too late!

With a grin, Ratchet tapped the Sparkling's arm to get his attention. "I want you to be brave Blitzwind. You're going to meet several of our human friends today. Ones we trust with our lives and who gives us equal trust in return. You have nothing to be afraid of from them. But should anything happen know that Ironhide, Optimus, Bumblebee and I will be there with you."

Harry chirred in understanding. He felt secure already with just the knowledge that Ironhide and his cannons would be there. Ratchet signalled a door to open and stepped to a large hanger. Sunlight poured into the large hanger vie several large windows and bay doors. The medic gave them a minute to adjust their optics before making their way to the tarmac beyond the hanger.

Assembled loosely on the tarmac were several humans and mechs. Off to one side stood Ironhide and Optimus, Bumblebee stood behind their human companions. The scout chirped a welcome to Harry who returned the greeting nervously, optics on the human soldiers. Harry noticed several more people peeking at them from a very large communications hanger, and around several buildings dotting along the base. He focused on the ones in front of him. A few of them were holding oddly wrapped packages. Harry wiggled a little, wanting to be let down. With a small grin Ratchet obliged him and set him down gently on his aft. The medic kneeled down, keeping a hand against Harry's back.

Harry chirped curiously at the humans wondering why they seemed more nervous to meet him then he was them!

"These ones are our friends." Ratchet pointed at the chocolate colour human, "His name is Robert Epps." Ratchet pointed at the next one, "He's William Lennox, and she's Mikaela Banes, Miles Lancaster." Ratchet introduced each one in turn. "Guys this is Blitzwind."

Greeting done Sam and Will slowly approached the sparkling. Behind them Miles just had to comment, "You know I never thought I'd actually be taller then one of these guys!" He yelped when Mikaela hit him on his arm.

Smiling, Sam presented his present to Harry who whirred at him, "It a welcome to base present. Your supposed to unwrap it to get the actual present inside."

Harry chirped again as he took the present from Sam, doorwings twitching a little in nervousness. He ripped the oddly shaped wrapping off to reveal... A plushy Bumblebee? Harry cooed as his doorwings fluttered in surprise. He looked to Bumblebee to his plushy and back again. The plushy was a near replica of the scout and it was soft. He never had a teddy bear when he was human so this was a surprise! He hugged his plushy Bee to his chest plates chirping and cooing in happiness causing all those around him to smile in delight.

Sam stepped back a little as will stepped forward. The present he held in his hands was slightly larger than the plushy Bee. Harry didn't want to let go of his new toy but knew he had too in order to open his next present. Harry warbled in thought then tentively held it up for Ratchet to take. Ratchet took the plushy and held it gently near Harry.

"This one is from some of my solders here on base. How they convinced my wife to make it I have no idea." Will handed over the present he held.

Harry chittered in amusement and ripped off the wrapping. Harry whistled in surprised delight. A plushy Ironhide! Harry clutched the toy to his chest and nuzzled the head. He was never letting go of either one!

Farther off, sitting on a rocky outcropping and hidden by his cloaking devise was Ravage.

"_Ravage to Soundwave"_

"_Report."_

"_I have confirmation of the sparkling. Your orders?"_

"_Excellent. Orders: Return to base"_

"_Returning to base."_

_Chirrup!_

**Several Earth days later:**

Skids and Mudflap looked high and low, in every nook and cranny and ventilation duct. Nearly every room and hall and they still couldn't find what they lost. Arcee had never left the monitor room and besides they had already checked there several times already! Time was running out!

They had to find that sneaky sparkling before Ratchet and Ironhide scrapped them and turned them to human femme hair curlers!

They had been tasked with the important job of sparkling watch before Optimus and his chosen team lifted off on a short Decepticon blocking mission. The twins had been threatened within micro of their sparks by the bonded pair to take good care of Blitzwind and they lost him within the joor! They had only taken their optics off him for a breem and he was gone!

Okay so it had taken longer to set up their prank on Sideswipe and Jolt but they didn't think that the little guy would wonder off so fast. His top crawling speed was barely five mph for the Source's sake!

The twins froze near med-bay in fear as they heard the angry bellow of a torque off Weapon's Specialist followed by the distinct sounds of on lining plasma cannons.

"We are so slagged, Skids."

"Oh pit ya. We need ta hide."

"Hiding won't save you glitches." Ironhide snarled from behind them.

"Oh"

"Slag"

"Us."

With a whimper and a yell, the twins fled further into base with Ironhide in hot pursuit.

Ratchet sighed tiredly as he entered med-bay. He'd check on Jazz first then join the others in finding the sparkling. The SiC was still in stasis but it pays to keep an optic on the mech incase something worse happening.

The medic entered Jazz's room only to stop and stare wide optic at the scene before him. There on the berth was two mechs. Blitzwind was recharging on top of Jazz's damaged chassis, one arm around his Bee plushy. The little one was purring in his recharge due to the tentive and gentle petting of his back by an awe struck Jazz.

"Hey Ratch! This cute mechlet yours?"

TBC


End file.
